GOP ATTACKS AID FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS. Republicans complained that House Democrats' stimulus plan includes too much funding to help low- and middle-income students attend college. The Pell Grant financial aid program in 2008 distributed $28 bln to 6 mln Americans whose families make less than $50,000 a year. HR 1 would add $15.6 bln to the program and would raise the average grant by $500, to $5,350, but Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) is one of the GOP senators opposing the increase in Pell Grants "because it would do little to spur short-term economic growth," the Washington Post reported (1/23). But economist Dean Baker noted at Prospect.org (1/23) that the grants "would provide stimulus in roughly the same way as tax cuts to these families would. They provide them with more disposable income, which is likely to lead them to spend more." Andrew Leonard noted at Salon.com (1/26) that "in contrast to tax cuts, the Pell Grants also serve a long-term interest: Increasing access to education. So in the long run, the country gets a more educated workforce, while in the short run, lower-income families find their own budgetary constraints loosened."
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